If you don't think the government should be artificially mandating winners and losers among clean energy companies with artificial subsidies, don't let that turn you off of basic research, where the real improvement in future clean energy will be made.

A discovery by military and academic researchers that embedding charged quantum dots into photovoltaic cells can improve electrical output by enabling the cells to harvest infrared light, and by increasing the lifetime of photoelectrons, may mean dramatically increasing the amount of sunlight that solar cells convert into electricity.

The idea of embedding quantum dots into solar panels is not new: Scientists proposed about a decade ago that this technique could improve efficiency by allowing panels to harvest invisible, infrared light in addition to visible light. However, efforts in this direction have met with limited success. The recent study showed they successfully used embedded quantum dots to harvest infrared light but also employed selective doping so that quantum dots within the solar cell have a significant built-in charge.

This built-in charge is beneficial because it repels electrons, forcing them to travel around the quantum dots. Otherwise, the quantum dots create a channel of recombination for electrons, in essence "capturing" moving electrons and preventing them from contributing to electric current.

The technology has the potential to increase the efficiency of solar cells up to 45 percent, said Vladimir Mitin, a SUNY Distinguished Professor at University at Buffalo. He and his colleagues have filed provisional patent applications to protect the technology behind the quantum dots with a built-in-charge, dubbed "Q-BICs." 

"Clean technology will really benefit the region, the state, the country," Mitin said. "With high-efficiency solar cells, consumers can save money and providers can have a smaller solar field that produces more energy."

The research appeared in Nano Letters some of them founded a company, OPtoElectronic Nanodevices LLC. (OPEN LLC), to try and market it.